Dramatic video shows Louisiana nail salon holding customer hostage

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LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – An Acadiana woman is speaking out after several employees at a nail salon allegedly attacked her, mistakenly thinking she was someone who didn’t pay for nail services a couple of weeks ago.

The woman tells News Ten exclusively, the employees dragged her to the ground and held her hostage inside the salon.

Markesha Living, 20, says she walked into Moss Nails to get her eyebrows waxed.

She sat down, an employee asked her what service she would like, and that’s when things took a turn for the worse.

“I was able to sit down and the lady just stand up and she speak her little language and Kevin translated it to me. Kevin is the man that does the eyebrows. He translated it to me, and he says that they said you came and you didn’t pay for nails,” explained Living.

In the attack, caught on camera, Markesha says employees at Moss Nails thought she was someone else who didn’t pay for past nail services.

She says the employees held her hostage.

Living continued, “I tried to leave and they tried to lock me in. I still got away from them anyway and then when I got away from them I started running because I seen all three of them was behind me and I started running and when I looked back I fell because I was still trying to run.”

Markesha did not get the service she wanted, and she says she was dragged back into the shop when she tried to get away.

“When I got back in, I realized I had no shirt on. I realized I had scrapes on my hand and I just started realizing all kinds of stuff was on my body then I asked for my keys,” added Living. “I had my phone in my hand because they broke my phone.”

Markesha’s mother-in-law, Barbara Lawrence, said, “Look at her. Why would three grown men… they need three men to drag her? Let her go because y’all knew it wasn’t her.”

Those three men have been identified as Hoang Nguyen, Dat Quoc Tran, and Khuong Hoang. They were booked into the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office and charged with simple battery.

“I started screaming I was pregnant and they just continue. They continue to treat me the way they was treating me,” added Markesha.

News Ten asked, “When all this happening and going on what are you feeling like? What are your reactions?”

Markesha answered, “I was crying. I was on the phone and I was crying at the same time. Yes, I was crying. I was thinking about my baby and I was crying.”

Markesha says when police arrived on scene, officers told her the salon employees had the wrong person.

We reached out to the manager of Moss Nails about the incident. He said quote — “No comment.”

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